US Open Badminton 2023: Lakshya Sen loses hard-fought semifinal to Li Shi Feng

The third seeded Indian shuttler, who overcame the Chinese shuttler last weekend to clinch the Canada Open 2023 title, lost to his second-seeded opponent this time around by a scoreline of 17-21, 24-22, 17-21 in the last 4 clash that lasted for an hour and 16 minutes.

With the win, All-England Champion Shi Feng now reduced the deficit to 4-5 against the Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Sen. The Chinese world number 9 will now face top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final in the early hours of Monday (July 17).

Sen did not have a very good start as he lost a very close first game by just four points. He maintained his composure to bounce back in the second game that went down the wire. These two games paved the way for an exciting decider, which was won by Shi Feng despite the fight put up by Sen.

US Open Badminton 2023: Indian Shuttlers in Action, Schedule, Results, Telecast and Live Streaming Info

“A terrific run at #USOpen2023 comes to an end for Lakshya Sen. Lots of positives to take from this week. Keep at it champ: @badmintonphoto #Badminton #IndiaontheRise,” tweeted Badminton Association of India (BAI) Media.

A terrific run at #USOpen2023 comes to an end for Lakshya Sen. Lots of positives to take from this week. Keep at it champ ????

????: @badmintonphoto#Badminton#IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/0qfQaXn3XM

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 15, 2023

Earlier on Saturday (July 15), two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu was stunned by a lower ranked Gao Fang Jie of China in the women singles quarterfinal. The 12th ranked Indian lost via straight games 20-22 13-21 to 36th ranked Chinese opponent in the last 8 clash that lasted for 49 minutes.

19-year-old Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, who made a great run right from the qualifiers, also bowed out of the quarterfinal following defeat to his compatriot Sen in straight games 10-21, 17-21 in the last 8 match that lasted for 38 minutes.

Meanwhile, several others exited the tournament in the earlier rounds as B Sai Praneeth lost to Shi Feng in a gruelling match that lasted three games, while Ruthvika Shivani was no match to Lin Hsian Ti of Chinese Taipei.

Praneeth gave a tough fight to second seed Shi Feng before going down 16-21, 21-14, 21-19 in one hour and 14 minutes. India’s 61-ranked player Ruthvika Shivani went down to Lin Hsiang Ti of Chinese-Taipei 14-21, 11-21 in a women’s singles match that lasted for just 27 minutes.

Also, former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap retired midway into his second qualifying match after trailing 21-23 7-11 against Koo Takahashi of Japan. He had won his first match against England’s Rohan Midha 21-19, 21-17.

Men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, however, couldn’t cross the opening round losing 14-21, 14-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Chieh and Su Li Wei.